


Waves of Life

by Oakwyrm



Series: Training Dragons in TI [4]
Category: Thrilling Intent (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - How to Train Your Dragon Fusion, Angst, M/M, TI SPP 4 - Distance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 12:18:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11714250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oakwyrm/pseuds/Oakwyrm
Summary: Life is cruel. It takes what it pleases and cares not what kind of wreck it leaves behind. Yes, life is cruel, and luck crueller still.





	Waves of Life

**Author's Note:**

> For TI SPP 4 - Distance

Kyrlos couldn't sleep. The shock that seemed to have dulled all of his senses over the past weeks was wearing thin, but still, he felt numb. The chain that now hung around his neck felt like it was trying to drag him to the ground, the ring on it a heavy weight against his chest. Gregor was asleep, thankfully. Kyrlos didn't think he could bear the look of sad confusion on his son's face anymore.

How was he to explain death to someone so young, anyway?

He stared down at the shirt in his hands. One of Zeke's. It still smelled like him, but that was fading more and more each day. The evidence of Zeke's presence was slowly fading from their house, and it terrified Kyrlos more than he liked to admit. He didn't want to consider what he might forget, that he _could_ forget. It seemed like such an obvious thing, to keep a perfect image of his husband in his heart forever, yet he knew the mind didn't work like that.

He would not forget what Zeke had looked like. The portrait hanging on the wall would see to that. He would recall beautiful blue-grey eyes and dark hair that shone under moonlight until the day he, too, was taken from the world of the living. What worried him was everything else.

Gently he ran his hands over the fabric of the shirt, recalling to his mind the high, clear laugh that had always made his heart beat faster. The quiet tranquillity of Zeke's voice in daily life, and the fierce roar of it in battle. The feel of his hair under Kyrlos' hands.

The sound of his voice raised in song. Their song. Kyrlos felt tears sting the corners of his eyes and he let them fall. He drew a shaky breath, staring into the fire. The flames danced, as lively and glad as ever, caring nothing for the problems of the world. He raised a hand to his chest, feeling his ring underneath his shirt as he quietly began to sing, his shaky voice barely audible over the crackle of the fire.

“ _I'll swim and sail on savage seas_  
_With ne'er a fear of drowning_  
_And gladly ride the waves of life_  
_If you would marry me_  
_No scorching sun nor freezing cold_  
_Will stop me on my journey_  
_If you will promise me your heart..._ ”

There was no answer. Even with the continued crackling of the fire and the wind outside the house, the answering silence was overwhelming.

He looked down at Gregor, curled up and fast asleep in his furs. He was so small. Too young to properly remember Zeke once he grew up, no doubt. That thought sent another shock of pain through his heart. Their lives had never been safe, they had held no illusions about that, but it was never supposed to end like this.

He shifted his tired gaze to the portrait on the wall. Zeke had been against hanging it somewhere so visible, said it made him look vain. Kyrlos had, quite rightly, pointed out that it hadn't been Zeke who commissioned the thing and Zeke had let it slide. Kyrlos now stared up at the image of his husband, forever wearing that small smile that most people failed to see. That Kyrlos had failed to see for the longest time. He knew it was futile to wish to change the past, but how could he not?

***

The wind was cold as it blew past the cave opening, whistling round the sharp rocks of the small island. It tugged at Zeke's hair, strong enough to move even his braid. He felt it behind him, coiling and twisting as the air played with it.

He was seated just above the cave entrance, his eyes scanning the horizon. What he hoped to find there now he did not know. He couldn't return to Berk, no matter how desperately he wanted to. He would throw himself into the sharpest cluster of rocks he could find before he endangered either the people there of the dragons of Thunderroar's pod. Even if he was foolish enough to think he could sneak by Berk's watch with a dragon as big as even just a half grown Thunderdrum, he didn't know the way.

He looked down at his hands. His conspicuously bare ring finger sent a pang of guilt through his chest. His ring was lying somewhere at the bottom of the sea, now. Lost in the chaos of a dragon attack and the subsequent shipwreck.

As if called by his thoughts a large shape lumbered out of the cave. As graceful as they were in the air and sea, Thunderdrums weren't all that effective on land. Thunderroar looked up, spotting him quickly and flying up to him. Quietly he placed his hand on her head and she leaned into his touch, making a trilling sound that he had learned was meant to comfort.

He should resent her, really. She had torn him from his family and taken him far from his home. Yet he didn't. She was young. Half grown at best, not nearly as large as she would be one day. She had a pod of similar youngsters who needed her. She simply could not afford to go down because she had taken a wrong turn.

“We've misjudged you terribly, haven't we?” he said, gently scratching her scales. She gave him a curious look. From inside the cave, he heard Thunderclap's disciplinary roar and the alarmed squeaks of Droplet and Scream, the only two true children in the pod. He stared out over the sea again, a sudden ache taking hold of his heart and squeezing until he was sure it would stop beating.

Gregor would grow up without him. Kyrlos would have to raise him alone, juggling the duties of the chief and the duties of a father in a way he should never have had to. Zeke was supposed to be there to help him, they were supposed to watch their son grow together. He closed his eyes and lowered his head. Thunderroar laid down, still watching him as he started to softly hum.

He recalled a voice, strong and deep, singing the starting verse. He'd heard it many times over the years, and they blended together, a bundle of warm, happy memories that now sent a lance of pain through his heart. Still, he opened his mouth to sing the answer to a beginning that was not there.

“ _And love me for eternity_  
_My dearest one, my darling dear_  
_Your mighty words astound me_  
_But I've no need for mighty deeds  
When I feel your arms around me._ ”

His voice failed him at the last line, fading into nothingness. Quietly he pulled his cloak tighter around himself. The wind made the tears falling down his face feel like drops of ice but he couldn't even pretend to care. He missed his home, he missed his husband and his son. They definitely thought he was dead and he had no safe way of returning to them even if he could find the way. His frame shook and Thuderroar moved closer, gently curling her tail around him.

“I'm sorry.” The wind stole the faint whisper from his lips, pulling it apart and scattering it. He curled further into himself, willing his words to somehow, impossibly, reach Kyrlos. “I'm so, so sorry.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you'll excuse me I need to go lay on the floor forever now.


End file.
